Export as Market Component and Development Perspective of NWFPs Sector in Central Serbia

Abstract

Although non-wood forest products (NWFPs) are traditionally linked to local communities, they are becoming increasingly involved in the international trade. Identifying the multipurpose character of NWFP is contributed to intensifying their commercial exploitation. The increasing of global demand has enabled the enterprises from Serbia, in accordance with its capabilities, more oriented towards exports of final products of organic food. Fragmented non-standard production in the past, Serbia could not have a significant participation in foreign markets, however, the establishment of different forms of association with the implementation of standards, also including appropriate marketing activities, opportunities for the enterprises to expand significantly. In order to gain insight into the developmental tendencies of local enterprises involved in the purchase, processing and marketing of NWFPs, it has been conducted a survey in order to define trends in their placement. The purpose of this research has been to determine trends in the exports of certain types of raw and value added NWFPs, on the basis of the study samples located in Central Serbia. The goal of this article is to study marketing activities of chosen small and medium enterprises (SMEs) engaged in purchasing, processing and marketing of NWFPs, as well as presenting of current marketing activities of surveyed SMEs and providing of some recommendations for more efficient export in the sector. The main subject of the research is amounts of placed NWFPs in the foreign market. The applied methodology is based on the analysis of time series by trend, which defined the movement in amounts, realized on foreign markets and made projections of exports in the future. The primary method of this study was modelling, while the statistical techniques were used as a method of trend analysis, with the use of regression and correlation analyses. By this study it has been shown the role of efficient market activities in the surveyed enterprises, as one of the important instruments for achieving economic goals.